Crime down 10 percent in unincorporated Hillsborough, Sheriff's Office reports

TAMPA — More focus on where and why crime is occurring in Hillsborough County helped the Sheriff's Office lower crime by more than 10 percent from 2008 to 2009, officials announced Monday.

Each year, the office compiles statistics on murder, sex offenses, robbery, larceny, burglary, vehicle theft and aggravated assault.

In 2009 there was a decrease in each area except burglary, which had a 0.1 percent increase, or 10 more burglaries than 2008, the report said.

Most notably, sex offenses — including rape, sodomy and forcible fondling — decreased 37.3 percent in 2009.

The report also mentions another crime that did increase, although it is not included in the overall crime totals. Simple assaults, such as verbal threats, jumped by almost 14 percent in 2009.

The statistics involve only crimes within the sheriff's jurisdiction, which covers unincorporated areas of the county. Tampa police are expected to release a similar year-end review today.

New investigative techniques helped create the overall decrease, said Larry McKinnon, a spokesman for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

Two years ago, deputies adopted intelligence-led policing, a method of pinpointing high-crime areas, he said. Instead of just reacting to crimes, detectives create solutions to the problems before they occur.

"We research any emerging crime patterns that are developing and start focusing on those individual areas," he said.

Pinpointing high crime areas often produces immediate results, said Shayne Jones, an assistant criminology professor at the University of South Florida. But the technique often doesn't work in the long run, he said. "Because criminals realize they need to go somewhere else for a little while and return later," he said.

For the Sheriff's Office, the goal is to remove the 5 percent of offenders creating 95 percent of the crimes from the streets, McKinnon said.

A zero-tolerance approach to violent crimes such as domestic violence helps deputies arrest offenders before the violence escalates further, he said.

Then, to ensure that they stay off the streets, a sheriff's detective works with the State Attorney's Office to aggressively purse prison sentences for those that qualify, he said.

Overall, violent crimes decreased by 21 percent, the report said.

Despite increased layoffs and a souring economy during 2009, property crimes decreased as well, by 8.5 percent, the report said.

The effect of the economy will not be seen in crime statistics until years to come, Jones said.

"There is some evidence that an economic downturn can influence crime, but it can take a while for that to actually happen," he said.

The total number of all offenses decreased from 34,040 in 2008 to 30,530 in 2009, a 10.3 percent decrease.

Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Shelley Rossetter can be reached at (813) 226-3374 or srossetter@sptimes.com.